Not to See the Sun
by Surrealistic Strawberry
Summary: Tears and guilt, memories and nightmares, flesh and blood...They all lead to passion.
1. Running from Lust

Kiryuu Zero thrust the door open, and Kurosu Yuki's sepia-toned shoes quickly clacked onto the hard, stone pavement inside. She knew that Zero wasn't exactly a "ladies first" kind of guy (not with her, anyway), so she took decisive action.

"Hello?" she called out spiritedly. Her cheerful demeanor pierced the thick, dark aura in the small shop. Not only did it look like a shack, but it was very unclean and ungodly hot inside. There was nowhere to sit and wait, so the Disciplinary Guardians remained standing awkwardly. In sight were numerous animal carcasses stretched open behind the front counter. They were the only creatures around the place. No one answered her.

"Let's just go," Zero grumbled.

Yuki's dark hair whipped as she turned to her companion. "No! Of course not! Didn't you hear Headmaster? He's making gyoza dumplings tonight!"

"'_His _style.'"

"WHATEVER!!" Yuki huffed. She faced away from him, into the dingy butcher shop. Just because it was true that Headmaster Kurosu's style of cooking was quite obscure in taste didn't mean that Yuki would give up on the pair's last errand for her adoptive father. Just a few more minutes, and they would be on their way back to the Academy. But first, they needed the—

"I hate pork, you know," Zero lied.

"Oh, be quiet, Gloomy, and help me find someone," Yuki snapped. Her head turned this way and that, looking for any sign of an employee. "Hello…?" she called once more.

Zero huffed and held his head; he was starting to ache…

"Zero?" Yuki requested without looking at him. "You should close the door. You'll let bugs in here; they're attracted to the meat, you know."

Zero silently complied. The instant the rickety portal was shut, all of the daylight was stolen from the room. Yuki's pupils dilated quickly to try and see, but she could not make out a thing. The only noise heard was the clicking of a loose ceiling fan, helpless to cool the room against the dread damp, summer air.

Yuki sighed, and though even the concrete floor wasn't visible to her, she plopped down cross-legged to await service. "Fine, Zero. We'll stay here for a few more minutes. If we don't see someone soon, we'll head back. Okay?"

Zero did not reply; he grit his teeth together and groaned as he clutched his forehead. Ugh, when had he last conceded to eating one of those filthy blood tablets?

He could never be relieved. No matter what, his unnatural lust drove him ill.

In the congested dark of that grimy butcher shop, the humidity sluggishly wafted. It carried along many scents, most of them putrid. Yuki found herself covering her nose, gasping sometimes when she stopped her breaths a little too often, but she figured that she would wait it out a little longer for the Headmaster's special dinner that night. But not much longer.

In the atmosphere that stunk of death, Zero coughed repetitively. _Damn…_

Out of all the smells that whisked past his nostrils, the bittersweet, thick aroma of Yuki's blood permeated his instincts the most.

"Agh…"

"Zero? You all right?"

"G-guh…yeah, Yuki," he sputtered. It was all he could do to hide his shaking and keep his cool. He started to perspirate. Why couldn't they just leave this goddamn pit already?

The girl's elbows sat lazily on her knees, and she sunk her head down so she could prop it up with her fists. Yuki then returned to stare obliviously into the darkness of the store, where everything was black to her anyway. She was only trying to be noble, attempting to carry out her duties as best she could.

But Zero was suffering more and more every second. He quivered and shut his eyes tightly, trying to get a grip on himself. All he had on his mind was Yuki's blood, and it was beginning to completely overtake him. _She's only four steps before me...Nnh..._

An image dashed across his mind...

_A breeze blew by Yuki, ever so swiftly. "Zero…?" she called. He did not answer._

_Her eyebrows furrowed together. She suddenly felt even more uncomfortable…_

_"Ah!!" Someone had grabbed her by her neck from behind. Her expression contorted in a wince, she wheezed past her restricted windpipe as best she could. Gasping, she pleaded, "Zero! H-help me…ahh…"_

_This time, a response whispered from behind. The words slithered into her ear…_

_"Forgive me, Yuki…"_

This fantasy had become actuality without the vampire even realizing it. There he was, inches away from her pale, thin-skinned, succulent neck…

Yuki cried and shuddered when she heard his cavernous, icy voice. She realized exactly what was happening, but why hadn't Zero told her how deliriously thirsty he was…for _her_?

In a freak instant, when Yuki tried to take a deep breath, she found that her throat was no longer hostage. With a large intake of the revolting air, her right hand flew to the skin just above her collarbone. A wind blew past her, and she heard his footsteps rush away from her.

"Zero!!" she yelled out to him, begging for an explanation—_something_—that would make sense.

Huffing all the way, Zero rushed back to the space near the door. He whipped the creaky exit open and broke through into the daylight outside.

"ZERO!!!" Yuki shouted again, scurrying to her feet to catch him. The sparse people here and there on the street stopped and stared at the tall, platinum-haired boy holding his mouth with an unpleasant expression scrawled across his face.

The street was uneven, the buildings were scattered in no particular order in Zero's mind. He was intoxicated on the lament of something he had resisted, and now his pent-up shame overrode all of his previous feelings. After his eyes darted all over the area, he finally found the direction that he was hoping to go. His feet erratically plodded eastward.

Yuki ran after him, tears streaming behind her. She didn't know where in the world he was headed, but she knew that she had always promised that she would stop him.

And she feared the worst for her poor friend Zero, bound to the curse of bloodlust.


	2. Defenseless

The sun was setting now, and its rays burned intensely. All neon orange and infrared, they illuminated the clouds so that their lining was hot pink.

The waning daylight also burned Yuki's forehead and cheeks.

She was already sweating profusely after chasing Zero for the past hour; this combination of heat was making catching up to him almost impossible. It seemed to her that vampires, indeed, had a high level of endurance. Zero was very tall as well. His legs stretched far with each stride, and he showed no signs of stopping.

_Oh, where are you headed already?_ Yuki asked in her mind. But she was not about to give up; though she had started to shake from fatigue a while ago, her willpower was greater than even Zero's.

"Zero!" she called again, tired but never once thinking of stopping. No answer.

As the sun became nothing than a sliver just over the horizon, a hill became visible far off. Yuki blinked hard, tearing up as the blinding radiance of the sun pierced her eyes. She covered her eyes to look harder.

There was a mansion at the top of the great mount.

Surely enough, Zero was headed straight for it. Yuki smiled, hoping that her chase would be over soon. She would be able to confront him, comfort him, talk to him…at least stop pumping her legs so hard that it felt her thighs would swell and burst.

She was not relieved, however, that Zero was already at the foot of the hill while she was at least a hundred feet behind.

She could barely see as it was, and it was hard for her aching body to keep a straight path, but she kept her rate steady and ran along.

Run, run, run…Don't stop… 

Coming up was a broad, twisted weeping willow. Its branches hung down like a million thin arms, all flowing and curtaining the wide trunk that anchored them to life. Its wild placate arose in Yuki a newfound strength to keep pushing forward.

In all directness, the willow had meant next to nothing for Yuki but a minute before. But by that time, it prompted her to try and dash under it for temporary shade.

_But only for a little while,_ she warned herself. She was deeply concerned for her friend.

Smiling weakly, she plodded on. Her feet seemed to get heavier, and her calves raged with charlie horses. It was all the better reason to make a pit stop.

Almost there, she sighed through deep breaths. _Almost there…keep running…_

"AAAGH!"

Just as Yuki brushed under the leaves of the wispy hanging branches, she tripped over a thick root.

Black-out.

* * *

"Nnnn…." 

The first thing that Yuki heard when she regained her consciousness was a monstrously loud slurping noise. At first it didn't register, so she blinked hard and opened her eyes.

It didn't help.

Wherever she was, it was entirely coated in velvety black, untapped by light.

_Aah, what…is happening…_ she thought to herself. Yuki's sight was becoming less focused by the second, as there was nothing to see around her. Her hearing getting stronger in the dense surroundings, she heard the avaricious noise so close to her.

"Focus, focus," she murmured, caught in a mantra-like state. The girl couldn't help it, though; she was being absolutely drained by something she couldn't even see. An instant before her sluggish reawakening to veracity, she finally felt the lips grasp her neck tightly and suck one hard, last time.

"Aah!!" Her scream was raspy, loud, short. And then a sensation tingled just above her collarbone, a sensation all too familiar to her…

With a slight pressure, two smooth, sharp fangs lifted from inside of her.

_No._

"Zero?!" Yuki cried. She wasn't sure if she was pleading for help, or if she was trying to help Zero himself.

"_-Pant-pant-pant-…" _The bestial craving had subsided; the once-human was broken away from Yuki, and lay in disgust at what he had just done to her.

Yuki gathered herself together, realizing that every inch of her body had been driven dazily acute by the loss of blood. "Hey, what's wrong? –Aah!!"

"_Yuki,"_ Zero huffed. His hand gripped hers tightly.

"Ah, Zero!" With her other hand, she touched the spot where he had pierced her numerous times before. The lightness in her head, the pain in her neck, the way he had complete dominance over her frail fingers grasped so roughly…

She shut her eyes tightly. "Stop that; it hurts…"

A burst of wind gusted past them, storming its way across the hellish dimmed room. The sudden airstream broke through the still air around Yuki and Zero only because a window facing west was cracked and shattered, mirroring many holes in the moonlight. The curtains were thrust aside by the strong breeze, and the room was illuminated instantly.

Yuki looked into his eyes, which were as enchanting a silver as the lining the moon's glow had etched onto every surface of the room.

Suddenly, Zero let go of her hand and reached up to his face. When his palms drew away, they were covered in blood. Yuki's blood.

"Oh, god…" he whispered, his voice thin and ethereal. He lapped up the syrupy red fluid, which sparkled in the rare light. Yuki looked on with solemn gravity, her big eyes held open as wide as they could go.

"Yuki, what have I done to you…" Zero said, facing the ground. He didn't even know who he was talking to anymore. His shoulders slumped together like a child's while he curled up on the floor, utterly disgusted at himself.

Seeing the person she had always known to be as worriless as a cold, hard rock so vulnerable only brought Yuki to be more sympathetic. Eagerly, she stretched herself out on the floor beside to look him directly in the eyes.

"I want to help you, Zero," she told him softly.

His eyes grew fiery and he bolted upright. "'Help me…'" he repeated, sinking his face into his hands. "Yuki…look at me. I just sank my fangs into you while you were completely defenseless. I brought you here purely because I wanted your blood, and you can't even acknowledge that I took advantage of you?!"

Yuki looked up at him as he sat there, facing away from her. Not seeing the tears in his eyes, she peered around at the room they were in.

It oozed stylish décor and ornate furniture, but the room was utterly black. Everything was worn out by too many suns and too many moons. Although Yuki realized that the place had seen lovelier days, it dazzled in its age for her eyes.

"Zero, what is this place?"

He shuddered and hesitated. It seemed he didn't want to speak, but couldn't refuse to respond to the girl he had drunk dry. The girl he knew he owed his own pitiful life to...


End file.
